Mystery Kids: It's The Thought That Counts
by MayDayGirl-Save-Our-Ships
Summary: Raz wants to make a present for Lili that's long overdue, but he needs Mabel's help to do it.


**A brief one-shot that takes place during my Mystery Kids Case Files series. You don't need to read the series to enjoy this fic.**

 **For more fics/information, go to my tumblr: mysterykidscasefiles.**

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 **Mystery Kids: It's The Thought That Counts**

 **Time period: First Summer**

* * *

Finally, this was the only chance Raz had to talk to her alone. Invisibly, Raz snuck through the hall, passed the kitchen, and stuck his head around the corner into the living room virtually undetected. Most of the Mystery Kids were over at Mystery Kids HQ and they wouldn't be back for a few more hours. This only left him, Mabel and Stan in the shack together.

Mabel had her head hanging upside down off the yellow chair as she lazily watched a commercial play on the TV. Her hands were busy knitting her newest sweater. Occasionally, Mabel glanced up at her handiwork, but Raz was pretty confident she could knit the entire sweater with her eyes closed.

Raz made himself visible and cleared his throat. Mabel looked over at him, a large grin spreading across her face, but she made no movement to stop knitting or to sit up.

"Hey Razzmatazz, what's up?" she greeted cheerfully.

Raz rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, I was hoping you could help me with something actually."

Mabel's knitting slowed, and she raised her eyebrows curiously (but from the position she was in, her eyebrows seemed to have lowered instead).

"Sure, what is it?" _Do we have a new mystery?_ Mabel added mentally.

Raz wasn't sure if she had meant for him to hear that last question. Even if she hadn't, Mabel never seemed to mind when he read her mind on accident.

"No, it doesn't have to do with a mission or anything. It has to do with, well… do you know how to make friendship bracelets?"

Mabel froze; her sweater-making project was halted as she stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Are you kidding me?" she screeched, launching her hands in the air for emphasis, and barely managing to miss stabbing him in the eye with a knitting needle. "I'm the queen of friendship bracelets!"

Raz winced at the volume of Mabel's voice, because it didn't just damage his ears, but his mental ears as well. Mabel had a bad habit of screaming in her mind the same thoughts that she vocalized out loud.

"Great!" Raz said when his head stopped ringing. "Do you think you could teach me how to make one?"

Mabel swung her legs around until she was sitting right-side up on the chair, her knitting project left forgotten on her lap.

"Of course! Who are you going to make a bracelet for?" As soon as Mabel asked the question, she added mentally with a sly grin: _Is it for Lili?_

Raz's face grew warm as he nodded. "Yeah." His fingers found the friendship bracelet on his left arm that Lili had made him, and he rotated it thoughtfully.

When Mabel noticed the bracelet on his arm, her smile grew.

"Lili made this for me when we met at camp," Raz explained fondly.

"So you wanted to make one for her too?" Mabel cooed. "That's so romantic!"

Raz's blushed deepened. "Y-yeah." _But it's more than that,_ he emphasized telepathically.

Mabel tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean it's more than that?"

"You know my clairvoyance power?"

Mabel pursed her lips in thought. "The one that lets you see through other peoples' eyes?"

"Yeah, but I can also read the psychic energy on objects that hold a lot of meaning. When Lili was kidnapped at camp, I was able to use clairvoyance on the bracelet and I could see where she was being kept. Since she made the bracelet herself, that meant the psychic link was really strong."

"So you want to make her one so that she can do the same thing if you guys get separated?"

Raz smiled down at his bracelet. The colors weren't as vibrant as they had been last year, and the ends were starting to fray, but the psychic connection was still as strong as ever.

 _It's nice always being connected to her,_ Raz continued mentally. _I always know if she's in danger or where to find her, but it's not fair that she can't do the same for me. I want her to feel like I'm always there, even if we're apart._

He looked back up from his bracelet to Mabel, who had her hands clasped together as she beamed back at him.

"Oh Raz!" Mabel squealed. "That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard! I'm sure Lili will love it!"

Raz chuckled and his eyes diverted to the floor. "The only problem is I don't know how to make one, but I thought you-"

"I could show you how!" Mabel interrupted excitedly. Words weren't fast enough for her, so she continued in her mind: _Oh, we will have to decide what colors to use! Which are her favorites? Oh, and the pattern too! Maybe a heart pattern with her name? That would look so cute! And you have to use the best type of string! Not too thick and not too thin… There are so many options-_

"Mabel," Raz interrupted as he held out a hand to halt her. "Sorry, but I already know exactly what I want it to look like."

* * *

Raz leaned against the counter on his elbows, his head drooping over the cash register as he rubbed tiredly at his eyes. Today Stan had put everyone to work, and Raz was on gift shop duty manning the cash register as Mabel and Coraline restocked the merchandise. Luckily, the day was winding down and there weren't any customers left in the store.

Raz wished he didn't have to agree to this. He already had a job as a Psychonaut; he didn't need another career as a cashier. However, Stan had threatened to cook a local Gravity Falls cuisine, opossum stew, for dinner if they didn't help out, and Raz wasn't particularly interested in finding out what opossum tasted like.

Despite the threat of opossum stew, Raz supposed that Stan wasn't the worst caretaker. He takes them out to places to eat once in a while and always finds entertaining ways to swindle free meals for them; including the one time he convinced the manager that Mabel was a prestigious food critic (and yes, she looks too young to be a food critic, but she's actually 38 and very sensitive about the subject, so if you want a good review you better not bring it up again). Mabel played her role famously, and they even left with extra deserts for everyone.

"Hey Razy," Mabel said brightly as she came up beside him and placed a large cardboard box on the counter. Raz peered inside the box and was not surprised to find it was filled with Mr. Mystery bobbleheads.

"Hey," Raz greeted.

"I wanted to ask you something," Mabel began as she began unloading the box and placing the bobble heads in a row on the counter. "Why didn't you give Lili the bracelet you were making?"

Ras froze. "Do we have to talk about this now?" he asked in a low voice, his eyes landing on Coraline who was stocking one of the shelves at the far end of the gift shop.

The rest of the kids, Dipper, Lili, Wybie, Neil and Norman, had been assigned to working in the museum part of the house. Their job was to pack up some of the old exhibits and set up the new ones.

Mabel ignored his question. "Why not?" she demanded a little too loudly. "What are you waiting for?"

Raz signed. He knew she wouldn't leave him alone without an explanation. "I'm not waiting for anything. I'm uh… not going to give it to her."

"WHAT!?"

"Well, finally got that done," Coraline said as she approached them. She set an empty box down on the floor by the counter. "I can't believe people buy this crap."

Raz swallowed and tried to redirect his focus away from Mabel's racing mind and onto Coraline. "We sell similar stuff for our circus." Raz said conversationally. He really didn't want Coraline involved in this and hopefully Mabel knew that. "It's amazing what people will buy."

 _Why aren't you giving it to her?_ Mabel's voice rung loudly in his head and Raz's eyes widened in surprise. Mabel still wanted to continue their conversation here? Now?

"So, I've been thinking…" Coraline said with a new, impish tone that immediately gave Raz the impression that whatever Coraline suggested next would either be slightly illegal or moderately dangerous. "Before we even came to Gravity Falls, Mabel and Dipper have been working on a map of the forest, but it's still missing a lot of information. I think we should try to complete as much as we can."

 _Raz, I know you can hear me!_ Mabel demanded mentally.

"A map would be useful," Raz agreed. "But that forest is huge, not to mention magic."

 _Mabel, I don't want to talk about this right now._

"Covering the entire forest would be impossible," Coraline agreed. "But we should at least have a map covering a good five miles in. We have to know what kind of dangers are around us, and what might be useful."

 _Well we have to talk about this now, because this is the only time I have you trapped and you can't run away!_ Mabel insisted.

Raz sighed mentally. _Fine. The bracelet just came out really bad, okay? Even though you told me exactly what to do, I kept messing it up. Every time I would fix a mistake it just made the string look frayed and ugly. There were some mistakes that I couldn't fix at all- Oh, Coraline is waiting for one of us to say something-_

"Is it possible to get an accurate map of the forest?" Raz asked before turning to Mabel. "The forest likes to change and rearrange itself all the time. We could never make a reliable map, right?"

 _The one Lili gave me looks so good,_ Raz continued, _but the one I made her took a whole week and it looks like garbage. In some places you can't even tell what the pattern is supposed to be. Lili would never wear it and I wouldn't blame her._

"Never say never, Raz!" Mabel responded with a grin. "And the forest changes, but some stuff always stays the same. The gnomes always live in the enchanted part of the forest, and our headquarters doesn't change either. I think it would be fun to complete the map."

"As long as we stay out of the denser part of the forest and stick together it shouldn't be too dangerous either," Coraline added. "It's the perfect first official Mystery Kids mission."

 _Raz, you're being silly. It's your first friendship bracelet. Of course it's not going to be great! You spent time on it and put your heart into it. That's what matters. It's the thought that counts._

 _I know you're into that sappy stuff Mabel, but 'it's the thought that counts'? That's what you tell a four year old when their macaroni sculpture falls apart on mother's day. I wanted to give Lili something nice, not a piece of junk._

 _No, you don't get it,_ Mabel protested. _I meant that literally. It's the literally thought that counts! Don't you get it? Did you forget why you were making the bracelet for her in the first place?_

 _What do you mean?_

 _You wanted to make her something that she could always keep with her that would have a strong psychic link to you. Well, what's better than giving her a bracelet you spent a whole week agonizing over? You put your heart and soul into that thing. You could try to remake a better one, and I could give you more tips, but the emotional connection won't be as strong. The one you already made is the best present you could give her!_

"If you two are going to have a psychic conversation, the least you could do is let me know," Coraline said angrily, snapping them both back to reality. "And don't give me those innocent expressions. You two wear your emotions on your sleeve. You were either deep in a psych conversation, or you were both simultaneously having internal mental breakdowns."

"Sorry, Coraline," Raz said, sheepishly. "Mabel was just helping me with a project. I didn't want to involve anyone else."

Coraline's angry expression faded into a smirk. She leaned against the counter, her arms folding together. "You mean that friendship bracelet you've been making for Lili?"

Raz's mouth fell open. Confused, he turned to Mabel.

"No, she didn't tell me," Coraline assured him. "I've seen you making it. The shack isn't very big and neither is our headquarters. We don't get a lot of privacy here, and with you around, we don't get a lot of privacy in our minds either. I'm surprised you never read my mind and found out that I knew."

Raz's frowned as he shifted uncomfortably. "I don't try to read your minds, it just happens," he defended halfheartedly. "Do you think Lili knows?"

"Doubt it," Coraline said. "If she did, she probably would have asked you about it by now."

"Sooo…" Mabel said slowly. "Are you going to give it to her?"

"Wait, why haven't you given it to her?" Coraline asked. "I haven't know you to be shy, Aquato."

"He thinks it's too ugly and she won't wear it," Mabel supplied before he could say anything.

"Really? I want to see this ugly masterpiece."

"No, Raz has to give it to her right now!" Mabel grabbed his shoulders and gave him a little shake. "Now is the moment, Razputin! It's time to sink or swim!"

Raz gave her a deadpanned look. "Okay, maybe don't use that metaphor on a guy who's cursed to drown in water?"

She let go of his shoulders. "Sorry, but you get my point! Hey, where are you going?" Mabel ask as Raz got up from his seat and began walking out the employee's only door.

"Yeah, we still have another hour before we close the shack," Coraline reminded him.

"I'm going to talk to Lili. Cover for me?" he asked without a glace back.

"What? You can do that later!" Coraline yelled "You're not leaving us to-"

"Yes, go to her Raz!" Mabel shouted dramatically. "Don't let anything stop you!"

"You realize you let him leave us with all the work?" Coraline said as the door swung shut behind him.

"Coraline, Coraline, Coraline," Mabel chided. "Don't you know? All is fair in love, war, and cashier responsibilities."

"You're taking over his shift."

"Fair enough."

* * *

"Okay," Lili said as she shut the door to the empty bedroom. "I appreciate getting out of setting up those stupid attractions, but what's this about? You're acting weirder than usual."

Raz gave her a look. "You were helping them unpack?" he asked skeptically. "It looked to me like you were standing around giving orders."

"Exactly," Lili said with a grin. "Someone has to supervise those idiots. Now, enough with trying to change the subject. What's going on?"

Raz laughed nervously and took his girlfriend's hand. She looked startled at first, but then her face softened.

"I have something to give you," Raz said. He could already feel his face heating up. "I made it, and I'm not very good at making thing like this, so just… be prepared for how ugly it is."

"Wow, you're really building this this up, aren't you?" she said sarcastically. "Okay, I'm prepared."

"And if you don't want to wear it, I totally understand! I wouldn't want to wear it either-"

"Raz, are you going to give it to me or what?" Lili snapped.

"Oh, right!" Raz rushed to his luggage and pulled out a wad of rolled up newspaper with a rubber band around it.

He held it out to Lili, his heart pounding against his chest. He realized that this was the first time he had ever given a present to Lili, or any girl he liked for that matter.

Lili took the package carefully. She slipped off the rubber band and unwrapped the newspaper. Lili blinked down at the present for a long time and Raz squirmed uncomfortably.

"Okay," she said at last with a chuckle. "It does look pretty bad."

Raz grinned, feeling strangely relieved as the tension dissipated. "I tried to warn you."

Lili held up the red and black bracelet to get a better look at it. "Are those supposed to be flowers?" Lili asked with a smirk.

"The pattern looked much better in my head," Raz said as he reached out to take the bracelet from her.

"I would hope so," she teased.

"I-I know you probably don't want to wear it since it looks so bad and the one you made me looks so perfect, but I was hoping you would still carry it with you? It might not look it, but I spent a lot of time on it, and you can use clairvoyance on it if you ever need to find me. The psychic link should be really strong, and I wanted you to always have something of me with you…" Raz trailed off, his eyes falling to the ground.

 _Even if we're separated when we go back home, or if we're on a dangerous mission, I want you to know that I will be there for you, no matter what,_ Raz added mentally. It was somehow easier to say embarrassing stuff through telepathy rather than out loud.

 _Raz?_ Came Lili's questioning voice in his head. The gentleness in how she said his name surprised Raz, and he looked up to find that Lili's dark brown eyes were suddenly very close to him.

Raz tried to speak, but Lili grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him towards her, his lips meeting her own. Her lips were so soft, and in that moment, Raz forgot where they were and everything they had been talking about. It was just the two of them lost somewhere in the universe.

When they parted, Raz blinked at her, a goofy grin on his face.

 _So, you're going to keep the bracelet with you then?_ he asked

Lili rolled her eyes at him and held out her wrist.

 _Well, what are you waiting for? Put it on me already._

Raz stared at her wrist. The bracelet would look ridiculous next to her black, spiked bracelet.

 _Are you sure? You don't have to spare my feelings… I know how bad it is._

 _When have you ever known me to spare anyone's feelings?_ Lili retorted. _It's the worst friendship bracelet I've ever seen, but I still like it, okay? Just put it on me._

Smiling so wide his cheeks hurt, Raz tied the bracelet around Lili's wrist. It was a few inches too long, the strings were contorted in strange places, distorting the pattern, and the ends hung awkwardly off of her wrist, but somehow, on her, it was perfect.

* * *

 **Mabel sure likes to take advantage of telepathy, doesn't she?**

 **Don't forget to leave a review!**


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